The Year Without Legs

[Otis McNutt 395]

I remember reading somewhere where a question was posited, "If you ever wrote a Book about your life would anyone want to read it?"

 

Before now I would've said "Heck no, what could I ever do that would even warrant a book be written!" 

 

Now I think differently, not 100% differently mind you more like 75-80. I am posting this here with plans of publishing (sometime in the future) on Amazon's eBook publishing service.

 

The Title is "The Year Without Legs"

 

Chapter One

 

 

Long ago our distant ancestors developed Bipedal locomotion (the ability to walk upright on two legs) as opposed to hunched over using arms and legs to move. 

 

Why did this happen? 

 

What advantage did it give them?

 

Perhaps it made it easier to reach fruit in trees, or perhaps it made it easier to spot predators.

 

Regardless of the reason walking upright stuck and we've been doing it ever since.

 

It's easy to take walking for granted, from the moments you take your first clumsy steps (to the delight of your parents) you are on the move. 

 

As a child much time is spent upright. Running, jumping, chasing after and being pursued. You come to see walking as an almost mediocre and (forgive the pun) pedestrian feat, until you can't do it anymore.

 

This is my Story, after much thought I have decided to call it "The Year Without Legs".

 

Before I go any further let me just start by saying that "Without" is strictly a Metaphor, I still have my legs they just don't seem to want to work. 

 

My story really begins several years ago. I was in my room one night sitting on my bed when i noticed a infected pore on my inner thigh. i should've left it alone, just let my body fight off the infection and be done with it. But being an idiot i decided to pop it and clean the area with Hydrogen peroxide. Unfortunately i neglected to bandage the area and it in turn became infected with something much worse. 

 

It was called Cellulitis.....

 

Wikipedia defines Cellulitis as:

"a Bacterial infection involving the Skin. It specifically affects the dermis and subcutaneous fat. Signs and symptoms include an area of redness which increases in size over a couple of days."

 

I'm not happy about what I'm about to write here but for context I feel that it needs to be told.

 

I am fat...

 

I know that calling myself that isn't politically correct but it's just how I feel (or felt)

 

The technical term is "Morbidly obese" but let's be honest is "Morbid" any better?

 

The infection was so deep inside my thigh that no matter how much antibiotics i took it couldn't be entirely cleared up. I would get better than a year or so later i would have another septic fever and it was back to the Hospital again.

 

This back and forth caused me to become homebound, i stopped living as part of the world and became mearly an observer.

 

By 2014 I had had enough. I was sick and tired of living life on the sidelines, i wanted to be done with these infections once and for all. 

 

On the advice of Dr. Michael T. Lawlor an Infectious disease specialist at Hartford Hospital I undertook a quest to surgically rid myself of my affliction.

 

I think i should note that the afflicted area, my inner right thigh had increased in size dramaticaly in the prevailing years. It was larger than a basketball and stretched from my groin to my knee. 

 

Before the Surgery could be performed I had to be medically cleared, a very daunting and eye opening quest. I discovered many things that I didn't want to know.

 

I had very high blood pressure, I was hypertensive and pre diabetic. But nothing could prepare me for the most shocking revelation of all, I was 585 pounds.

 

I knew I was fat mind you, i saw it every time I looked in the mirror. But now it was real, it was an actual number. 

 

Amazingly my heart was (more or less) fine and i was cleared for surgery. 

 

As the day approached I felt equal parts fear and excitement. Fear of the unknown, what could happen and excitement in the possibilities of my life post operation.

 

I planned on getting more active, on losing weight and perhaps even continuing my education. 

 

The Surgery day came and I found myself in Hartford Hospital again under the knife. Thankfully the surgery was a success...but wouldn't you know it, that bastard Cellulitis just had to get me one last time.

 

Another course of Antibiotics and I was cleared to go home. 

[Otis McNutt 395]

Chapter Two

 

Thanks to dedicated doctors I had vanquished the dreaded Cellulitis from my body and was on the mend. 

 

Unfortunately my relatively good run of luck was coming to an abrupt end, my new foe was called Cdiff.

 

I knew that something was not right from the get go. I had very loose stools and would often mess myself. 

 

In time I got so weak that I just had to go to the Hospital. 

 

Amazingly i made it down the 18 steps of our second floor apartment and reached ground level and that was when the steam engine quit. I fell to my knees and couldn't get up. An Ambulance was called and thanks to the very dedicated paramedics i was lifted from the ground and placed in the "Bus".

 

I don't remember much about the first few days i was there. i do have bits of memory but for the most part it was a blur. I do remember them telling me that my kidneys were shutting down and that i was being put on Dialysis. 

 

I've never been more afraid of anything in my life.

 

Thankfully my Kidneys recovered and in time so did I....mostly.

 

I was so weakened by the infection that I couldn't walk. To make matters worse was my weight. 

 

 

That's when I was told that I was going to a Rehab facility.

[Skippy 82]

It's a good read, and i think people will be interested to hear what you have gone through, it's certainly been a journey for you.  There are a lot of people without the strength to face that head on and keep a positive outlook on life.

 

 My one critique would be that if you are going to self-publish on amazon, you may want to find a source for the definition of cellulitis that isn't wikipedia.

[Otis McNutt 395]

Chapter Three:

 

I left Hartford Hospital and made the trek to nearby Bloomfield Connecticut, my destination was The Bloomfield Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation. 

 

I was still considered contagious so I was placed in a single room all by my lonesome. 

 

I think it should be noted that being alone nearly 24 hours a day made me very very....unpredictable, thankfully earlier in the year I had won $300 on a Connecticut lottery scratch ticket and purchased something that would come to be of great use to me in the coming months a Kindle Fire tablet (in fact I am typing this very book on it at this moment). 

 

I was under quarantine for quite a while confined to a bed because being as big as I was they didn't have a wheelchair big enough to accommodate me. You start to climb the walls confined to a single room and a bed, you hunger for any voice that isn't your own. The isolation gets to you and you find yourself going slightly mad.

 

I have to stop writing now, I have the sudden urge to cry for a bit.

Chapter Four:

 

I thought that I was done with having to have my rear end cleaned by another person when Toilet training came about. How quickly we devolve back to adolescence when you can't manage a few simple steps to the John. The first time you tell another adult you have to use the Bedpan is an awfully embarrassing moment. It makes you feel tiny, smaller than those very small ants you see scurrying around in the summertime. This book is a meager thank you to all the dedicated CNA's (Certified Nursing Assistant for future reference) at Bloomfield their unflinching dedication to the job made my year bearable. 

 

Thankfully the embarrassment fades quickly as the necessity to relieve oneself takes over. You do your business, ring for assistance, roll over and get 'cleaned' and continue with what you were doing which for me most days was watching crappy Daytime chat shows, the occasional marathon of Law & Order Special Victims Unit on USA Network or binge watching an entire season of my favorite television shows on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Instant Video (keep up the great services guys!) 

 

But sometimes no matter how much SVU, Sliders and Castle episodes you watch nothing can keep loneliness and boredom away forever, sometimes all that will stop the bad thoughts from wriggling in your brain is to hear the soothing voice of your mother telling you everything's going to be alright.

 

Thanks Mom....I now and forever love you.